Boats

Docked at Turtle Cove's Galva Canal Boat Shed in Manchac (Akers, LA)--see picture
to left-- is a substantial and ever growing selection of boats, suitable for almost
any research or educational endeavor that can be undertaken from the research station.
The selection ranges from 10' pirogues that are best considered one-person vessels
(if you wish to stay dry), to a variety of lake skiffs ranging from 18' to 23' in
length, all the way up to a 40' pontoon boat that can transport an entire class of
30 students and gear.

Many research projects require the use of mud boats to get through the narrow, shallow,
and stump-ridden logging ditches that criss-cross the entire region. These remnants
of by gone logging operations are a detriment to the area's ecology because they have
dramatically changed the hydrology of the swamps and marshes. On the other hand, they
allow access deep into many otherwise inaccessible areas.

To simply enjoy the quiet and solitude of these beautiful wetlands, or to access even
more narrow waterways, there is nothing better than one of Turtle Cove's canoes. A canoe offers an easy way
to get close to wildlife and explore the many changing faces of a Louisiana wetland.
There are 8 canoes in the barn behind Turtle Cove, and 10 canoes on a trailer (usually
stored at either the Galva Boat Shed in Manchac or in the Sustainability Center on
campus)---the canoe trailer can be used to bring canoes to a variety of places around
the basin.

Various larger boats are suitable for traversing open bodies of water, carrying larger
amounts of gear, or transporting several students at one time. And several aluminum
flatboats can be used for small canals/bayou work, either with or without an outboard
engine attached.